Larry lives

Debra Johnson

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 8, 2017
Messages
13
Reaction score
32
Location
Indiana
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'm back into the hobby after 20 years and it's all because of Larry the shrimp. I thought this community would get a kick out of the story.

It all started when we purchased (eating) shrimp 2 hours north of us at an Indiana shrimp farm. When Larry and about 8 lbs of his buddies went into their 1 lb bags live, we were assured that they would die in 5 min.

5 hours later when we went to process the shrimp for the freezer, Larry came out of the bag alive. As in, really alive and flapping around. And he didn't die in 5 minutes. My friend couldn't dispatch him and we both felt that after being after 5 hours in the bag and still alive, he deserved a chance. So I quickly put together a plastic bowl with tap water** and pure salt water from the pantry. When it tasted like salt water, I put him in. I fully expected that he wouldn't survive. When he seemed to be recovering, I pulled my 2.5 g tank from the basement, mixed up a bigger batch of water / sea salt and a running filter and put him in. When he survived the night, I bought shrimp food, tank heater, air bubbler, Instant Ocean, and a hydrometer. After balancing the salinity, he was still doing okay.

The next morning Larry the shrimp was still alive. He has a 2.5 gallon saltwater tank with salinity of 1.025 and temps at 77. And he's eating. I added live sand, then live rock. Below is Larry's current tank. He's molted twice and he's thriving.

I used to have a 30 gallon long saltwater aquarium from 1992-1997 so I had experience keeping saltwater fish. I also have a biocube 29 nano tank that that I never setup. Larry will be getting upgraded tank when it finishes cycling.

So I'm back in the hobby and, boy, has it changed alot!

Debra

**My tap water is actually filtered using Aquasana's whole house Rhino with salt-free softener.

P1030665.JPG


P1030666.JPG
 

dbl

It Takes Less Energy to be Nice
View Badges
Joined
Mar 13, 2014
Messages
15,945
Reaction score
90,195
Location
SW Florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Such a great story and thanks for sharing it. We all thank Larry for your re-introduction to the hobby and ultimately finding R2R and your new reefing community. Welcome to the family.
 
OP
OP
Debra Johnson

Debra Johnson

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 8, 2017
Messages
13
Reaction score
32
Location
Indiana
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Larry moved to the big house.. and he promptly buried himself in the sand!

It's been fun watching him explore the new bigger tank. Over the last week, he's burying himself for about 2-3 hours in the afternoon. Here's a shot of him completely buried.. I didn't get a picture where he buried himself so completely, only thing showing was his eye stalks and the tip of his nose. Over the course of the week, he's also turned over all the sand.

upload_2018-2-10_7-17-43.png

upload_2018-2-10_7-28-15.png

upload_2018-2-10_7-32-19.png

(playing with the camera and turned on the 'fish' setting, which I don't like)
 
OP
OP
Debra Johnson

Debra Johnson

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 8, 2017
Messages
13
Reaction score
32
Location
Indiana
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The saga of Larry the Shrimp has ended. Last Sunday morning, Larry was found behind some rocks on his side, no moving. After observing for several minutes, then touching him with poke stick, he didn't move and went belly up. Larry provided hours of aquarium watching and got me back into the hobby.

At the moment the only thing in the tank is live rock, small feather dusters, my squirt, and a healthy population of copes. I haven't decided yet to get live fish or not. The LFS seems to only have clown fish .. and no warranty.
 

Reefer Deez

Reef junkie
View Badges
Joined
Sep 7, 2017
Messages
1,451
Reaction score
9,851
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Awesome story welcome back to the Hobby and welcome to Reef2reef :) you're off to a great start your tank looks great! ;)
 

mike werner

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 2, 2018
Messages
2,809
Reaction score
30,521
Location
Edgewater,Md
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
no not laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaary.sad I just read your thread and was so excited to hear how he came to be.remember you provided him with a life like no other eating shrimp ever had and he made you very happy.rip larry
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 68 52.3%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 67 51.5%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 33 25.4%
  • None.

    Votes: 29 22.3%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 6.9%
Back
Top